The IB
by Litanya
Summary: [TAIORA] When Taichi Kamiya told his parents that he wanted to go to an all girls school so he could do a special academic program, they thought he was insane. He promised them that he wouldn't fall for a girl there, but what happens when he breaks that p


Litanya: Firstly (and most importantly) HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!! You're finally 17… I hope you have a great day and get a lot of good presents (ignoring the fact that you have already received most of your presents of course… do you still have the John Howard poster?)

Anyway, this is a fic that is completely dedicated to Steph, because she has put up with me raving about all year. Once again Steph, Happy birthday!

I do not own Digimon. Oh, and if you don't know what the I.B is, you are about to find out! Oh, and I mixed up the ages of some of them to make it so that they would be in the same classes. I just made Izzy, Ken and Yolie a little older, that's all.

**_The I.B_**

The parents of 16 year old Taichi Kamiya were extremely worried and frustrated. They dragged the mildly amused teenager into the psychiatrist's office, and pushed him into the comfortable armchair that was inside. Kari, Tai's 13 year old sister, followed behind them, trying not to laugh. Although she was worried about her brother she could still see the humour of the situation.

"You must be the Kamiyas. I am Dr. Melvic and I am, obviously, a psychiatrist here. Now, what seems to be the problem with…Tai? I can see that he is around sixteen years of age. Is he suffering from depression or ADD?" Mari Kamiya shook her head quickly. She opened her mouth to answer, but Tai beat her to it.

"I want to do I.B," Dr. Melvic gave him a look of blank confusion, so he continued on, "You know… that international schooling system. You have to do a first language, a second language, a science, a Maths, a humanity subject and you can either do an arts subject or a second science or a second humanity. Theory of Knowledge is then added to the schedule. Besides the classes, which you have to do over two years, you have to complete 50 hours of service, 50 hours of creativity and 50 hours of action. You also have to write a 4000 word essay on a topic of your choice. It is a program which is recognised internationally." Dr. Melvic's jaw dropped. Tai had said it so casually, as if he had not thought of the amount of work that would take. The psychiatrist turned and looked gravely at Tai's parents.

"It's official. I'm sorry, but the boy is evidently crazy," at this both Kari and Tai burst out laughing, "No, I mean it. The boy is sixteen and if he has to wade through all of that work, he is never going to be able to have a social life. Are his grades good enough to even try this program?"

"He's been scraping As and Bs in all of his subjects. His teachers say that he would 'benefit greatly' from this program, but I still think that he is completely insane for wanting to do it," Alexi answered a little reluctantly, "the only reason that I can think of for him to want to do this program is that he would have to move to an all-girls' school. There would be a few others boys, but the majority would be girls. I think that that has a great impact on his decision." Dr. Melvic nodded, his chin resting on his hand as though he was deep in thought.

"No, that's not the reason. I swear to you at this moment that I will never go out with a girl that goes to the school. I'd go crazy if I did that!" Tai cried out before the Doctor could speak.

"I was about to say that maybe he wasn't as crazy as we had first thought, but now… all I can say is that I hope doing this course knocks some sense into him. I cannot help him any further. You should write all of your thoughts down in a diary Tai, when you have time of course, and hopefully by the end of the first term you will have realised that the I.B is a program that only crazy people enter. I will pray for you," these comments only made the brunette laugh even harder. Kari was standing behind her parents, trying to stifle her laughter. She attended the girls' school which Tai would be attending if he chose to do the I.B and she knew of some of the girls that he would be sharing his classes with. She also knew what an impact Tai's arrival would have on the younger year levels. Most of Kari's friends were already swooning over her elder brother when they went to her family's apartment, and her friends were the sensible type. She laughed quietly to herself as she imagined the fan club that her brother would develop.

"Well, if that's all we had better get Tai back home so we can get all of the enrollment forms organized. We were hoping that you could have done more for our son, but we understand that it is out of your hands. Thank you very much for your time," Alexi and his family backed out of the office and then left the building. Mari and Alexi were still worried about the whole idea of the I.B, whilst Kari and Tai were laughing as they remembered the shocked look of the psychiatrist.

"Well Tai, all I can say to you is this: if you fail… you're paying the rest of Kari's school bills," Alexi threatened as he saw that nothing would change his son's mind.

"Okay, I just won't fail, and if I do… Kari will probably end up in a public school somewhere," it seemed that nothing would dampen Tai's good spirits at that moment. Alexi looked at Mari knowingly. He knew that once Tai started the I.B, the boy would not be as happy about it as he was at that moment.

* * *

It was Tai's first day at his new school. As he walked up to the senior area, he felt a little self-conscious. Girls were everywhere, some staring at him and others were even following him. He did not recognise many of the girls, but the few he did know blushed when they saw him and hurriedly walked away. He shrugged to himself at the behavior of the girls and he finally arrived at the 'Senior College,' the area reserved for the top two year levels of the school. The group of girls which had been following him stopped as he entered the area. He did not care. He was just glad to be rid of them.

"Hi, are you one of the new IB guys?" this question was asked by a boy who was taller than Tai. He had short bluish coloured hair and he wore thick glasses, which often slipped down his nose. Tai nearly mistook the boy for a teacher until he saw that no teacher would be wearing the school's uniform.

"Yeah, my name is Tai Kamiya. I'm starting the IB program this year," the blue-haired boy chuckled at this.

"I'm Joe Kido; I'm in the second year of IB. I am one of three IB boys in my year level. We started out as a group of five, but two dropped out in the first year. I hear that there is about seven IB boys coming to year 11 this year," Joe pushed his glasses back up his nose, then seemed to realise that Tai still had his bag on his back, "You'd better go and put your bag near your locker otherwise you'll have permanent back damage." Tai blinked. He had not realised that his back was curving slightly backwards. He thanked Joe for the information and then stepped into the locker area. As soon as he did, he was hit with a wave of confusion. Girls were greeting each other everywhere, hugging and laughing and there seemed to be no one who was standing alone. In a corner Tai saw three guys, who seemed to be staring at all of the girls in some sort of shock. Figuring that he would never find his locker amidst the knot of girls, Tai sauntered over to where the other guys were, dropping his bag on the way.

"Are you an IB boy?" although the answer was obvious, Tai nodded at the blond boy's question.

"My name's Tai. How about you guys?"

"I'm Matt," the blond which had spoken before introduced himself. He was around the same height as Tai, but that was about all of the similarities between them. Whilst Tai's hair was a dark brown, Matt's was as blond as it could be. His skin was pale and his eyes a deep blue. He seemed confident and relaxed, and he was giving a brilliant smile to all of the girls that went past.

"I'm Izzy," the smallest boy of the group, a small red-head, said. His bag was slumped on the ground next to him, but he was holding a small lap top case. His eyes were so dark that Tai could not tell what colour they were. Izzy's voice was very quiet and he did not seem to talk much.

"I'm Ken," this came from the next boy in line. He had long blue hair and his eyes shone with intelligence. His voice too was quiet, but it was also gentle, as though he had never spoken a harsh word in his life. He seemed very shy, even more so than Izzy. He was almost hiding in the corner, and he was watching the girls cautiously. Tai grinned and imagined all of the fun he could have by getting Ken to talk to the girls.

"This feels weird, doesn't it?" Tai gestured towards all of the girls. The others nodded.

"I feel as though I shouldn't be here. I thought that there were a lot of girls at my old school, but there wasn't even half as many there as there is here," Matt seemed to be the one that was most willing to talk. Tai was glad that they were friendly otherwise he would have been completely lost.

"Hello," they turned to see a group of girls standing beside them. They all wore the summer dresses of the school, but most of them had left the top three buttons undone, revealing almost half of what the dresses were supposed to cover.

"Can we help you?" Tai asked the leader of the group, averting his eyes from her dress. Matt was just grinning at the arrival of the girls.

"My name's Kate and this is Michaela and this is Kat. We would like to welcome you to our school. Do you want to join us and the rest of our friends in the Hawthorn Room?" the Hawthorn Room was a large room that was there for the students to eat their lunch in, as well as study during their spare periods. Matt's grin grew wider.

"Yeah sure, I'll come with you," Matt grabbed his bag by the handles and pulled it along behind him as he left with the girls. Tai was left alone with Ken and Izzy, but he did not mind.

"Hey guys, do you know where we find out where our form rooms are?" all of the students had received the name of their form group in the mail, before school had started, and so they only had to find the room in which they were supposed to meet.

"I think that we just look on the doors of each room. They should have the form list on them," Izzy suggested, grabbing the handles of his bag, "Which form are you guys in?"

"11CP… or something like that. You?"

"I'm in that one too," it turned out that they were all in the same form, something of which Tai was grateful for. He would have hated to have been alone with a form of girls, mainly because he did not know anyone. He was sure that he would settle down once he knew who everyone was. The three of them wandered around until they found the room in which they were supposed to meet the rest of their form group. The room had a beautiful view out of the long windows which covered one side of the room, and Tai knew that he would get caught day-dreaming if he had any classes in this room. A few minutes after the boys had arrived; a group of four girls entered the room.

"Come on Steph, we don't want to be late!" the girl in the lead proclaimed loudly as she entered, almost pulling another girl into the room.

"Come on Emma, we are about five minutes _early_. And besides, I don't want to go to form; it's boring!" the girl that must have been Steph explained in an almost patient voice, "Let's go and talk to Melissa and all of them. There's no point in being early to form!"

"But by the time we get back to them, it will be time to come back again. And anyway… we should mix with new people," it was obvious that Emma was trying to find any excuse to stay in the room.

"Emma, Steph, just be quiet and we'll stay here! I'm sick of these little arguments already!"

"Sorry Mimi," the two girls said back, but they did not look very sorry. Then the auburn haired girl who had not spoken turned to the boys in the room.

"Hi, you must be the new IB guys. I'm Sora and these are my friends Mimi, Steph and Emma," she pointed to each girl as she introduced them, "We are all doing IB too, and so we may be in some of your classes."

"I'm Tai, and this is Ken and Izzy," Tai decided that he would have to be the spokesperson of the group because Izzy and Ken seemed to be too shy to speak; "It'll be great if you are in some of our classes. This school is kind of confusing for us, if you know what I mean. My little sister comes here and she told me about it, but it is still a bit weird."

"You have a little sister here? What's her name?" Sora seemed to know a few of the younger girls, so he answered.

"Kari Kamiya, she's in year 8 at the moment," Sora smiled at the name.

"I know her. She comes to fencing," at that moment, more girls came into the room, but Tai, Izzy and Ken stayed close to Sora and her group of friends. The form teacher entered and homework diaries were given out and then they all went to the locker area and chose their lockers out of the allowed area. Tai's locker was above Izzy's and next to Ken's. He was so happy that he had found friends at the school already that he did not even swear as he tried to force all of the books into his locker. It did not look like all of the books would fit, and he was almost about to give up when a book slipped and everything seemed to fit into place. He looked quickly at his timetable, grabbed the books he needed and then slammed his locker shut, before all of the books could fall out. He knew that he was going to have to take some books out if his locker was ever going to work properly.

"Hey, what class do you have first?" it was Sora. She and Emma were holding the same books, so he guessed that they were heading in the same direction. Steph and Mimi had disappeared.

"Physics, with a Mrs. Moran or something?" Sora nodded.

"Okay, come with us. Ken is in this class too. I think Izzy went off to Biology with Mimi and Steph. We'll take you to the right class," the two girls led the way to the physics lab, which was out of the main senior building. They waited outside of the classroom door, with about six other students. Matt was with them, but he was talking to another girl. Luckily this girl knew how to button her dress up properly. Ten minutes after their scheduled class was supposed to start, the teacher appeared.

"Good morning girls… and boys. I'm your physics teacher, Mrs. Moran. I hope that we can all work together efficiently and happily…" she said as they sat down in their seats, and then she began a long-winded explanation about how she expected them to do their work and hand it in on time… Tai found that he could not tune into what she was saying and his eyes wandered up to the clock. Time seemed to have stopped, the class was so boring. Finally he heard her ask if anyone had any questions and Matt put his hand up.

"What happens if we forget to hand something in?" he obviously had not been listening to the entire talk, but Mrs. Moran just launched into another explanation.

"Okay… now we will start the work in the course. Our first topic is…" Tai found that he _had_ to tune in otherwise he would have no idea what she was talking about. Ken was sitting on his left, taking down a few notes when he thought it was necessary. Sora was sitting on his right though, and she was building a little palace out of her highlighters. She motioned for him to get out his highlighters and he did so quietly, noticing as he did that Sora had already stolen Emma's highlighters.

"Matt, pay attention to what I'm saying instead of watching the clock!" Mrs. Moran suddenly exclaimed. She said nothing about Sora's highlighter palace, or the fact that Emma was staring at the clock, even though the two girls and Tai and Ken were in the front row. At the end of the class, Mrs. Moran gave them a huge list of questions to answer for homework. As they were walking out of the class, Tai groaned. He hated homework and their next physics class was the next day. He would have to answer the questions after soccer practice.

"Yay! It's recess time!" Emma exclaimed happily, "I hope that I never have to go back into that physics class ever again!" Ken, speaking for almost the first time without being asked a question, agreed with her.

"I thought that physics would be interesting but… hey at least it isn't biology!" Emma grinned.

"Yeah, they get to watch potatoes grow. I'm glad that I did physics now," they arrived back at their lockers and within moments they were out on the balcony that encircled the building. Sora and Emma introduced the boys to their friendship group and Tai was so happy that he had been accepted into the group. The rest of the day passed happily as Tai met more and more people. There were a few other boys in the IB that he had not met until his English class, but when he did meet them, they became his friends. He smiled to himself as he thought what his parents would say when they found out that he was thoroughly enjoying the IB.

* * *

"Hey, do you want to play soccer with us?" it was Sara, one of Sora's friends. It was lunchtime and as he loved soccer, he instantly agreed.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" he followed the girls and dragged Ken with him, not wanting to be the only guy there. He needn't have worried about that, because other boys soon followed them. He enjoyed the little soccer game that they played, and he found that Sora was a good player. Ken was also very good, but Matt was not great because he was too worried about his hair.

"Hey look guys; you have your own little fan clubs!" Sora teased them and she pointed to the huge cluster of girls which had gathered on the edge of the soccer pitch. Tai saw Kari roll her eyes in the crowd of girls, obviously not being impressed by the behavior of her friends.

"Hey, I'm just going to go and say hi to my sister. I'll be back in a minute, if I'll ever escape that group of girls," he jogged over to where Kari's friends were standing and ignoring the others, he addressed Kari.

"Are you glad to be back here Kari?" he asked, trying to ignore the blushing girls around him. He thought that it was pretty pathetic that they were already after the boys in year 8. He thought that they should keep their independence until at least year 11.

"Yeah, it's great except that all of my friends take delight in coming down here to stare at you and your male IB friends. How about you? Are you settling in here okay?"

"Yeah, it's great! I've already made quite a few friends, including some female friends as you can see. Mum and Dad are not going to be happy when I tell them that I love it here," he grinned again, imagining the look on his parents' faces when he told them the news. As he grinned, a ripple of sighs echoed from the group around him. Kari glared at them.

"Come on guys, this is my _brother_. Trust me, he is not the Saint you guys think he is," Tai laughed, ignoring the insult.

"Kari's right. Besides, I'm in year 11 and you guys are in year 8. You need to grow up a lot before any year 11 guy would consider you as girlfriend material," he said this as gently as possible, but he knew that he had still hurt a few of them. He waved to Kari, eager to get out of there, and went back to where Sora and the others were still kicking the ball around. As he left Kari, he felt that a new group of girls had crowded around her and he heard many girls demand that Kari tell them his name. He just grinned and rejoined his friends. This school, although definitely crazy, was also fun.

* * *

When he returned home from school, his parents stood waiting for him. He found this funny because it meant that his father would have skipped around three hours of work and his mother would have skipped one of her cooking classes.

"So son how was school today?" his father asked as soon as Tai had put his bag down in his room.

"It was great! I made a heap of good friends and the work isn't all _that_ bad. But I can't talk now, I have to go to soccer practice, remember?" and he shut the door to his room and changed quickly, almost laughing as he remembered the looks on their faces. The I.B had to be one of the best choices he had ever made.

* * *

It was a few hours later and Tai was beginning to wish that he had never done physics. He screwed up a piece of paper for the fortieth time and threw it to join the others in the bin. He would _never_ get this stupid problem right! He had been doing physics homework since he had finished dinner, and that had been three hours ago. He was still only on the eighth question out of ten and he had had enough.

_'Alright… I will just skip ahead and then explain that I had difficulty with it,'_ but the next few questions were just as puzzling and he ended up giving up altogether, _'Ah, that's it! I'm going to bed. I do not care that I haven't finished these stupid questions, I just want to sleep!'_ e packed away all of his homework and got ready for bed. As he was trying to sleep, an image of an auburn-haired girl flew into his head. He had no idea why, but Sora seemed to have a calming effect on him. He tried to brush Sora out of his head, but she was as immovable as a mountain. When he finally got to sleep, the image of Sora was still there.

* * *

The days passed quickly and soon the first term had ended. Tai had no idea where it had gone, but it was the holidays. He had found a job three weeks before the holidays and he loved the fact that he had money to spend as he pleased. He worked at the local cinemas and one day he found Sora and Mimi lining up to buy a ticket.

"Hi guys, which movie would you like to see?" Sora giggled for a second and then replied.

"Fancy meeting you here. Anyway, we would like to see _'Bridget Jone's Diary'_ thank you," he smiled back at them and quickly printed the tickets.

"Okay, here are your tickets. Enjoy the movie," and then he had to deal with the next customers. Sora and Mimi walked slowly into the cinema and as soon as they were sure Tai couldn't hear them, Mimi burst out laughing.

"Aw… poor little Sora has a crush on Tai. You could not have flirted more obviously if you had tried," Sora's cheeks went bright red.

"I was not flirting with him! And anyway, today was going to be my tease-free day. You guys always tease me about Tai but today I was going to make sure that no one did…" she complained, but then she looked thoughtful for a second, "But he _did_ look hot in that shirt, you have to admit it." Mimi's laughter grew louder and Sora just glared at her.

"I'm sorry Sora, but you brought that on yourself," Mimi managed to squeak in between her laughter. Sora did not look amused and she stalked ahead, leaving a laughing Mimi behind.

* * *

During the holidays, a few days after the incident at the cinema, Tai was at the local park, practicing his dribbling skills. It was a beautiful day and Tai had sacrificed doing an English essay to go to the park. He had been either working at the cinemas or doing homework the entire holidays and he felt that he deserved a break.

"Hey Tai, what are you up to?" he looked up to see Sora standing a few meters away. She had been watching him for around an hour, but he had not noticed and so he did not know.

"I got sick of working, so I came out to play soccer. Do you want to join me?" her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.

"I love soccer almost as much as you do. And since I am having trouble writing my English essay, I have time to play. What do you say to a one-on-one match? The loser gets to buy the winner a milkshake!" Tai grinned at the challenge.

"You're on. Let's go!" About two hours later the pair finally fell on the ground with exhaustion.

"What- what was the score again?" Sora asked, completely out of breath.

"2-2. it is a draw," Tai panted back, almost gasping for breath. That little game had been the hardest game he had played for a long time. Sora certainly was good.

"Then I guess we each buy our own milkshake. I'm too tired to go on playing," she rolled onto her back so that she was facing the sky. Rain clouds had gathered and she could see that the rain was about to fall. She loved the rain and as she predicted, it began to fall softly around them.

"I just need to get my energy back and then we can go," Tai turned to look at the sky too, and the rain cooled him down.

"It doesn't matter, I love the rain," she was growing colder as the rain fell on her, but she did not care. The rain was beautiful, at least she thought so.

"I thought that you would. We're the only ones left in the park. What do you say to a dance?" he smiled as he stood and offered her his hand. She was a bit shocked at first, but then she took his hand with a small smile of her own.

"Okay, but if any of my friends see me… you're dead!" but in a way she would never even be able to slap him. For some reason he had become… not a friend but almost closer to her than any friend could possibly be. And he did not know that. Tai himself had no idea why he had asked her to dance with him. For the past few months he had felt strange impulses whenever he was around the girl.

"Alright… but they won't be out here. Mimi would rather die than get her hair wet, Emma lives in the middle of nowhere, Steph would be with Josh…" he continued to explain how it would not be possible for her friends to see her. She giggled at all of his explanations and when he had finished she decided to add one of her own about Mimi.

"And besides the fact that she would rather die than get her hair wet, she is probably out following Joe somewhere. Did I tell you that she has a huge crush on him?" Tai laughed.

"And did I tell you that Joe has one on Mimi? He was going to ask her out the other day, but he chickened out at the last minute. Ken and I thought that it was pretty funny. The Yolie came up and started talking to Ken and _he_ turned bright red and I laughed for a long, long time," Tai was thoroughly enjoying himself. He was dancing a sort of crazy dance with Sora at the same time as talking and if anyone could have seen them, they would have been on the floor laughing.

"Ah, and who do you like?" Sora asked, not expecting an answer. Tai blushed, his own thoughts going back to the meeting he had had with the psychiatrist before he had started the IB.

_"I swear to you at this moment that I will never go out with a girl that goes to the school,"_ the words echoed in his head and wouldn't go away. He was sort of staring off into the distance and Sora was very confused.

"Tai, snap out of it! All I did was ask you a question!" she waved her hand in front of his face and he blinked, pulling himself back to reality.

"I'm sorry… I was just remembering something," he felt so stupid. He had promised that he would not fall for a girl that went to his school, but he had gone and fallen for Sora. And she probably only thought of him as a very good friend.

"Someone who probably would not care. It doesn't matter who. What about you? Do you have a guy in mind?" again he did not expect an answer. Sora bit her lip before she spoke.

"I think I'm in the same sort of situation as you," they stopped dancing and just stood as the rain fell around them. They both stared at the ground, occasionally glancing up at the other, too afraid to talk.

"Hey, we should probably get in out of the rain now," he eventually said, after they had been standing there awkwardly for five minutes.

"Yeah, you're right," she took control of herself again and smiled, "I almost forgot about the milkshakes!" Tai grabbed his muddy soccer ball and shivered. The weather really had taken a turn for the worst. He stopped and dropped the ball again. He should take this chance. It did not matter about the promise he had made. And hey, maybe dating someone at the school would make his parents think he was less crazy.

"Sora, wait," she was gathering her jacket but at his words she straightened, "I need to tell you something." He had never felt this nervous in his entire life. Sora, in turn, was also nervous, wondering what he was going to say.

"Okay… tell me," she smiled a nervous smile, and that gave him the courage to go on.

"I… I think that I have fallen for you. I love you," Sora could hardly believe her ears.

"You… love me?" by the way she said it he knew that she was happy.

"Yes, I do," she did not know what to say.

"I… think that I… may love you too," those were the best words that he had ever heard. He took her hand and grinned at her.

"I wasn't going to say anything before because I had promised some people that I would not fall for someone at the school, but I couldn't help but fall for you," and he leant in and kissed her, the rain still falling around them. But in the sky a rainbow was forming, a sign of hope for the future.

The End

Litanya: I hope that you liked it Steph, I tried! I know that it is a bit sketchy in the details, but I hope that some parts of it reminded you of two of our friends… Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone who is still experiencing Christmas Day and have a great Boxing Day to everyone who has finished Christmas. And all you Aussies… Come on Aussie, Come on, Come on! We can beat you Pakistan! Anyway… I hope you liked this fic and I'll write another fic soon… I hope!


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